Two Wrongs Make It Right/Three
three “We'll safety-pin the pieces of our broken hearts back together Patching up all the holes until we both feel much better” --Safety Pin, 5SOS --jet "He never does anything right," I mutter under my breath after five minutes of silence. Lavender starts in surprise, as if she had grown accustomed to the quiet of the night. "He's always off wasting myself, never caring for his youngest litter. Who's going to care for Holly, Silvia, and Jacky when I'm not there? Certainly not him. Not to mention the prey. He never catches any for the kits and he's always using the prey I catch for himself. How selfish can he get? I can't believe--" I snap my mouth shut when I remember that Lavender doesn't know anything about me and I'm just spilling all my frustration and anger on her. Not to mention I don't want her to think I can't handle all this and be tough. Lavender is calm though. She flicks one ear as if to dismiss my raving and points straight ahead. "I think the scent leads that way." "How are you so calm?" I ask, blinking a few times. "Saving family is always my first priority," Lavender meets my gaze with bright yellow eyes. I feel a glimmer of respect for the confidence in Lavender's voice. Something had happened to her family but it was obvious Lavender had loved her family enough to want to ensure that everyone had a chance to experience what she might have experienced with her family: love. We follow Holly's trail for a long time, weaving our way through the undergrowth. Lavender tries to make small talk but I'm too focused on Holly's trail to really say much. "What's it like to have siblings?" She asks. I shrug mindlessly, "Fun I guess, though it's hard being the eldest. I have to take care of them because my father isn't ever there for them and so instead I'm kind of like the father figure for them." I glance over at the pale she-cat, "Do you have siblings?" Lavender's face closes off a bit. "Yeah, I did." I notice she said "did", but I don't really want to pry. I lapse into silence again but this time Lavender explains. "My family perished in a huge fire that took down my first home. I was only five moons old and I had two brothers. I just remember being the only one who escaped the fire first because I was the smallest and the fastest. My parents were trying to get my brothers and suddenly a huge tree trunk fell in front of me and I couldn't see my family anymore. When I did, they were trapped and my mother shouted for me to run. I was too young to understand what would happen to them so I ran away and when I turned back, the fire had already swallowed them whole." I can almost feel Lavender tremble beside me but she steels herself. "That's why I was so scared earlier, but I'm working on it. I won't be a burden next time." Lavender is always so stoic. I admire her bravery in a situation like this. She's definitely an exemplar for a warrior. "You weren't a burden," I find myself saying. I never thought I'd be the reassuring voice after my mother's death, when I had become jaded and unforgiving. "Besides, you're not the type to be put down." The she-cat shakes her head and sighs. "I've been trying to get rid of my ridiculous fear of fire but it's so hard to shake the memory away." I can't imagine trying to forget your family's death, especially if you were the lone survivor. "It's not a ridiculous fear," I insist. Lavender doesn't say anything in reply and I decide to give her a piece of my own past. "My mother died when I was twelve moons old, so five moons ago. My siblings were just born so they had to be weaned off milk almost immediately after they were born since neither my father nor I can bear milk. I was sad about my mother's death but I guess what rubbed me the most was my father couldn't stand the stress of dealing with three newborn kits. He dumped the responsibility on me and wasted himself with addictive herbs like catmint instead." "I don't know if I'd rather have a broken family or no family at all." Lavender admits. I can only relate. "My siblings are cute, but I was twelve. I didn't really want to be a father for them. Not to mention my father came back rarely, and when he did, he was in a rage and took it out on the kits and I. But at the same time I can't imagine living without a family at such a young age." Lavender's eyes meets mine. I stare into her yellow eyes, trying to process Lavender. She's always trying to be positive, whereas I'm always trying to bring the situation down. I stopped believing in good things a long time ago. It makes me wonder: Am I broken or is she? Or are we both broken? Suddenly Holly's trail stops. I halt as well and sniff the air. "There are other scents," I panic, "Intruders." "Calm down," Lavender puts her tail on my shoulder and I shudder at the sudden contact. "Calm down?!" I shake her off incredulously, "You're asking me to be calm? Holly is out there, kidnapped by those mangy-pelted cats! They could have hurt her, or worse." "There's no sign of a struggle," Lavender points out, "There's no blood, no shredded fur. Even if they didn't hurt Holly if there was a scuffle there would be some sign. It's too normal here. It was as if the intruders interacted with your sister and then took her away peacefully." "Are you suggesting my sister went with them willingly?" I demand. Lavender is still too calm. "I'm saying she didn't fight them because maybe it was the best way. She would have stood no chance anyway." Because the she-cat has a point, I force my fur to lie flat. "Let's follow the trail again," Lavender continues, "it should lead us to your sister." Suddenly I'm grateful for Lavender's help. I can't imagine trying to do this by myself. We followed the trail again and this time I made an effort to talk to Lavender. "What made you want to join IceClan's army?" "I wanted to become a medicine cat," Lavender admits, "I wanted to save lives after losing my family. But because I was a rogue, they didn't want to take me in. I still wanted to help though, so I decided if I became a warrior, I could help protect IceClan lives so they don't get hurt and die in the first place. What about you?" I duck my head sheepishly. "This might come out as selfish but I first joined because I wanted to get away from my hectic life. Then it became apparent we needed prey and since I wasn't home, I might as well get the whatever I could from my job. Of course, I could be doing more for my siblings by hunting and being there for them--they're only six moons old--but I decided I liked serving and helping too." "Herioc," Lavender gives me a small smile, "you're always looking out for them." "At least I'll be ready to take care of my own kits when I decide to have them," I roll my eyes, "Joy." "You say it like you don't want kits." "I don't expect myself to have kits," I correct her, "what kind of she-cat is going to like me? I'm broken and certainly not the best cat to be around. And with this job, I'm not sure how long I'll last before I tip over and die." Lavender is quiet for a moment and I mentally smack myself for running my mouth. "Stop talking about yourself like that," she finally scolds, "you have a lot of good attributes." "Like what?" I scoff. "Well for one, you're good looking," she says this almost shamelessly, as if she's just listing off facts, "and you're a good fighter so someone's bound to like you. And I think we both know you won't go down so easily. Though you're personality could use some improvement..." "Thanks for the compliment." "No problem, any time." Before we can make it any further, we try to come up with a plan to save Holly. "Okay, so we're just going to storm the camp, find Holly, and run out screaming." "Why do we have to run out screaming?" Lavender questions. I give her a scathing look. "That's the only thing you find wrong with my plan?" "It just doesn't seem right," I can see Lavender trying to hide her smile, "it makes us look like fools, running out of there screaming. What about our dignity?" "Be serious!" "You be serious first," Lavender smacks me with one paw. "Okay, okay, but what should we do? We don't even know if she's going to be where we're going." I wave my tail in the air. "Of course we know," Lavender looks at me like I'm stupid, "We're following her scent, Jet." I mutter something to myself. Perhaps I was making a big fuss but it was hard not to worry when Holly's life was on the line. "What's your plan then?" "Why don't we butt in and give you a plan?" Another feminine voice cuts in. I start and look up, only to run into a light brown tabby she-cat with cunning, intelligent green eyes. "Hello," she gives me a grin, "Nice to meet you." I back off and stare at her. "Who are you?" Two more cats pop out, laughing and purring at each other, obviously in love. They stop abruptly when they see us and the tom looks over at the light brown she-cat. "Ivy, what's going on?" "Well that answers your question," Ivy shoots me another smile. "May I ask for you name?" I eye her cautiously but it's Lavender who pipes up. "I'm Lavender and this is Jet." --lavender The other two cats introduce themselves as Carson and Peony. They tell us that they've been traveling around the border for awhile now because they're trying to find allies who agree with them on their views on the intruders. They admit that some of them come from families from that side of the border but they've left because of disagreement. "Jet and Lavender right?" Carson clarifies. "Yeah," I give a nod and glance at Jet. He looks distracted by the light brown she-cat who had surprised us in the first place. I feel a twinge of strange annoyance but I push it away and decide to just tell Carson what's going on. "We're looking for someone." Jet looks over when he hears this and gives me a strange look. I shrug. "It's the easiest way to know if they've seen Holly." "What does Holly look like?" Peony pipes up. She's a cream colored she-cat with pretty blue eyes. I can see why Carson likes her so much. "She's a black she-cat with green eyes. She's only six moons, so she isn't that big." Jet explains. Ivy flicks her tail and that catches Jet's attention again. Peony answers our unspoken question. "I saw her. Those cats across the border were taking her across. Didn't look like she really minded though. She definitely didn't put up much of a fight if they were kidnapping her." Jet lashes his tail, "You guys didn't try to save her?" Carson looks confused but as Jet advances towards Peony, the skinny brown tom jumps in front of her girlfriend--or his to-be mate, whichever way you looked at it--and flattens his ears. "Don't you go accusing Peony for nothing." Ivy cuts in. "Yeah, why is it our fault that we didn't save that little scrawny thing of a cat? We don't even know her. We don't make a habit of saving random cats for no reason." Jet is starting to look furious and I know better than anyone else that Jet's temper isn't exactly the best. Carson narrows his eyes. "We may not have saved Holly the first time but we can still help you." "How so?" Jet challenges. "Peony and I are from that side of the border. We grew up there and we know the territory pretty well. If we decide to, we can help navigate to where she is most likely to be held. And maybe if Ivy is feeling generous, we'll help you break her out." Carson's eyes are full of intelligence and confidence. Jet bristles, obviously not happy that these three strangers hold the power to save his sister while he probably didn't. "Okay," he growls, "help us." Ivy curls her lips. "I'll help, but only because Carson and Peony are going." "You didn't come from that side of the border?" I ask, kind of surprised by that information. "Heck no," Ivy sniffs disdainfully. "Why would you think that?" "Well Carson and Peony comes from there and you travel with them. It was only natural for me to think that you knew them from before." "I do know them from before," Ivy rolls her eyes, "I met them afterwards when they came over to this side of the border." "I have a plan." Carson announces. "Already?" I can hear the shock and disbelief in Jet's voice. "Yes," Carson arches an eyebrow, "Are you doubting my ability to make up a logical plan in a few minutes?" By the expression on Jet's face, it's obvious that he is but Carson just smiles. "Well if you are, don't." Peony loops her tail around Carson's tail. "Carson is really smart. He can come up with a plan for any situation, as long as you give him the time he needs." "Okay this the plan," Carson thumps a paw on the ground, trying to look in command. "The four of us--by us I mean me, Peony, Jet, and Lavender--are going to distract the guards surrounding the camp by pretending we're a huge battle patrol from IceClan instead of just four cats. While we're doing that, Ivy will sneak in and snatch up Holly and escape. Then we'll all run away." "That's the dumbest idea I've ever heard." Jet says flatly. Peony looks hurt on Carson's behalf, although the brown tom isn't so fazed. "Oh come on, let's just give it a try," I nudge Jet, "it's better than the two of us trying to do this ourselves." "Why does Ivy get to go get Holly?" Jet complains. "Holly's my sister." "Because you'd shred everyone inside," I say patiently, moving him along, "And you'll do good outside in case they don't believe our ploy." "I'm a good fighter too!" Ivy snaps but she doesn't argue with the positions. We set off at a brisk pace and Peony and Carson make small conversation. Jet is completely silent, and even when I glance over at him to say something, he won't respond. I give up and walk in silence next to him until we reach a small, quiet camp. "This is it," Carson stops, "Ivy, it's all you." The light brown she-cat gives a short nod and then she disappears into the undergrowth. Carson gives us a grin. "Ready to be a battle patrol?" I want to answer no but I decide that we might as well try it out. Carson ducks behind a bush a few paces away and hollers. "Hey you two, ready?" "Ready!" Peony and I chirip back. Jet grumbles but he pitches in as well. "Birch, Talon, Flower, and Heron are ready too!" He calls out. We've already captured the guards' attention with our talking. We're trying to pretend we're whispering, but making our voices loud enough so the guards can hear. They're tensed and poised for attack, but I notice they don't make the first move because they think there are tons of us. "Good," Carson says, "we'll wait for the last four to come up then we'll storm the camp, okay?" "Sure thing boss," I say. Peony giggles slightly but we keep up the talk, stalling for Ivy's behalf. The guards really do believe that we have more than four cats because even though more and more cats pour out, they still don't attack. Suddenly Ivy pops out of nowhere and I feel a little justified in letting out a little squeal. Ivy just looks at me weirdly. "Is this what IceClan turns you into?" She snorts. "You surprised me," I mutter. Jet runs over immediately and he touches noses with his sister. "I can't believe it worked." "Me too," Ivy grumbles, "your sister is a nuisance and I barely got her out of camp before anyone noticed. She just kept fighting me!" Jet looks at Holly and sees that his sister is pouting. "Holly?" He crouches in front of the tiny she-cat, "What's wrong?" "I hate our father," she bursts out, "I'd rather stay here than go back and live with him!" Category:Two Wrongs Make It Right